Butterscotch Bourbon Ice Cream

This homemade ice cream is so creamy and perfect. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of it scooped out, so you'll just have to take this one of it churning. A few summers ago, the New York Times came out with a fantastic ice cream article and recipe with a basic base and a whole bunch of ways to customize it with different flavors, aptly titled, "The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need." They had a butterscotch bourbon flavor that I tried last weekend - yum! It's really, really good and I will definitely make it again. It's rich and creamy and has just a hint of bourbon - it's not overwhelming at all. (I don't like my desserts to taste like booze).

Maya's Coconut Tart

There's a great restaurant in St. Barth called Maya's that my family goes to every year. One of my favorite parts of a night at Maya's is finishing off with a slice of coconut tart. It's so delicious and crunchy and caramelized. We were having friends over for dinner last weekend and I was trying to think of something new to make for dessert. I googled around wondering if Maya's recipe had made it online, and it had! Jean-Georges published it for Food & Wine! (You can see it here.) It was so good and tasted just like how Maya makes it. Coconut fans will love it. Definitely get fresh coconut and shred it yourself - do not get the pre-shredded coconut. It will be too fine.

Ice Cream Cake

This ice cream cake is delicious. The crushed up Oreos mixed with magical shell make the perfect crispy filling. So decadent and sweet. Who doesn't love ice cream cake? It takes a while to make it with all the freezing, but if you're home for most of the day it's not bad. You can do it over the course of a couple of days, too. It's so good! I ate mine and half of Jamie's.

Ingredients:

2 quarts ice cream, whatever flavors you want (I used chocolate and Oreo)

1.5 sleeves Oreos, filling removed (or if you can find them, chocolate wafers)

A few tbsp magic shell

Hot fudge (I used Hershey's but you can also make your own)

Whipped cream

Cherries and sprinkles (optional)

Mini Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie with Ice Cream

Yum! I want to eat this again right now. It's a big, gooey, melty chocolate chip cookies covered in vanilla ice cream. What's not to love? This serves two in a 5" inch skillet, but there's leftover dough. You can also do ramekins to make individual servings. 

Ingredients:

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large eff

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp kosher salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Vanilla ice cream

Strawberry Balsamic Pie

I love pie season. Some people think it's in the fall or winter, but for me, summer pies are the best. I love a good lattice-topped berry pie (strawberry rhubarb is my reigning favorite). I've been wanting to try this recipe from Four and Twenty Blackbirds but kept forgetting about it during the short strawberry season. Not this year! I finally remembered, bought a bunch of strawberries from the market, and made this delicious pie. It's so good! Even the drippings that come off the pie onto the cookie sheet taste like wonderful, sophisticated fruit roll ups. Strawberries and balsamic go so well together, and the little tiny bit of pepper is not obvious but gives the mix a tiny kick. I used my new favorite cornmeal crust, but you can use regular crust, too (or store-bought if you want - I recommend Trader Joe's). 

Snickerdoodles

If you want your house to smell amazing (a la Clueless), bake these. The cinnamon sugary goodness wafts out from the oven and will make anyone in the house come to the kitchen for a sample. Also, you probably have most of these ingredients in your kitchen already. These are simple cookies but they just taste so, so good.  You do need to know about an hour in advance just to be sure your butter and shortening are nice and soft.

Makes about 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 tbsp butter, softened

8 tbsp vegetable shortening (like crisco)

2 large eggs

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I have never been a big cheesecake person (unless it's like this). I don't think I've ever ordered it at a restaurant. It always seems too rich and heavy, and that says a lot coming from me. Pumpkin cheesecake is the exception to the rule. It's a hybrid of pumpkin pie and cheese cake; lighter than cheesecake and with warm, aromatic pumpkin pie spice. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. My advice - drench the batter bowl in water before you can eat too much of it because it is fantastic.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 6 full graham crackers)

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

Ample Hills

This little ice cream stand in Brooklyn Bridge Park has really fabulous flavors. I am kicking myself for not trying to sooner. (I had my first cone there last week after passing it a million times.) We had their version of cookies and cream, which was incredible. There was some spice in the cookies, maybe marjoram, and the ice cream itself had some salt in it. It was just really, really tasty. Some of the crazier flavor options were stour and pretzel and one that was bourbon flavored with candied bacon. I will definitely be stopping there again after our next BBQ. 

Nutella Ice Cream

I wanted to make banana ice cream, but the grocery store had no ripe bananas. I made a quick decision to grab nutella and just add it to a basic ice cream recipe, and add some hazelnuts. It's so rich and creamy, and who doesn't love nutella?

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

8 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup nutella

1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions:

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until a little bit frothy.

Mudslides

I can't wait to have people over for dinner so we can serve these as dessert. So decadent and tasty! You can use different types of ice cream. Works really well with cookies and cream, or, in this case, with vanilla ice cream and oreos.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 shots dark rum

1 shot kahlua

3 oreos, and one for garnish

2 cups vanilla ice cream

splash of milk

some chocolate (I used a few pieces of Mast Brothers dark chocolate)

pinch of salt

Whipped cream

Directions:

Put rum, kahlua, 3 oreos, ice cream, milk, salt, and chocolate in a blender and pulse until smooth with a few little chunks. Pour into glasses, top with whipped cream. Break the oreo in half and put half on top of each. That's it!

New Pie Book

Isn't that the most beautiful pie? It's from my new cookbook, Four and Twenty Blackbirds - thanks Palmer and Austen! This particular pie was salt pork apple pie. It was really tasty, but it's an odd one and I think it would have actually been better sans pork. I can't wait to make another pie from the book, though, because the crust was so, so flaky and buttery and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, and there are so many great looking recipes and helpful tips.

Raspberry Sorbet

After all the gluttony of Thanksgiving, this week I've been looking for light, fresh things to eat. Raspberry Sorbet sounded perfect and I found a very simple recipe. I used frozen raspberries and it turned out really well. As long as you have an ice cream maker, it's a great, not too complicated dessert.

Ingredients:

4 cups frozen raspberries

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Make-Ahead Individual Chocolate Souffles

Everyone is afraid of making souffle, but it's really not that difficult. I had some time to kill the other day when I was making dinner and I already had all of the ingredients, so I whipped up a few individual souffles. Cook's Illustrated (thanks for the book, Kara!) has a good recipe for make-ahead souffles where you assemble them and then just put them in the freezer until you want them. They were really chocolatey and rich and perfect with a scoop of ice cream. There's still one in the freezer - maybe I'll eat it tonight. This would be great to do the night before you have people over, then just throw them in the oven 15-20 minutes before you want dessert.

Serves four

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces plus 1/2 tbsp softened

2 2/3 tbsp sugar, plus 1/2 tbsp

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used my favorite, Belgian chocolate, Cote d'Or - it's the best. It's hard to find in the US, but I just found that the Garden of Eden on my street sells it, so I'm thrilled. Another point for Brooklyn Heights.)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

3 large eggs, separated, plus 1 large egg white

2 tbsp powdered sugar

pinch cream of tarter

Browned Butter Rice Crispy Treats

These are delicious. I didn't think rice crispy treats needed fixing, but wow, just by browning the butter first and adding a little salt you really bump up the flavor. They did not last long - my friend Elaine did some major damage. These are perfect if you need something to throw together quickly and cheaply to bring to a party or work or anything.

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 10 oz bag marshmallows

heaping 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt

6 cups Rice Krispies

Butter or nonstick spray for the pan

Directions:

Apple Butter

We stopped at a farm stand and they had a bin full of bruised apples that were super cheap, so I thought it was a perfect time to make apple sauce. When we got back, I thought I'd try to make apple butter instead. It's basically apple sauce cooked down to a thick spread. It makes the entire house smell like apples and cinnamon and fall amazingness. I can't wait to spread it on toast or an English muffin tomorrow. Using a food mill makes it so you don't have to peel the apples, and adds extra flavor to the sauce. I also use cider instead of water for a more intense apple flavor.

Makes one small jar and 

Ingredients:

6 apples, cored 

2 cinnamon sticks

about 2 cups of apple cider

1/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Halve the apples, slice and chop in half. Throw them in a heavy-bottomed pot and pour in enough apple cider to start coming up the sides. Throw in a pinch of salt and the cinnamon sticks. 

Blueberry-Blackberry Tarts

Jamie loves blackberries, and when he had all of his friends over to do his football draft (taking over our living room/TV) I needed an activity. We had this great tart pan that I still hadn't had a chance to use, so I thought it was a perfect time to try a tart. Yum! It was really great. Super fresh and summery, and the crust is incredible. You have to make it yourself instead of buying premade pie crust because the tart crust is different than pie crust. It's more like shortbread. It's a little tougher to work with, but it's so tasty. Jamie brought some to work and it was gone within half an hour. It's a bit of a labor of love, but well worth it. It's not too sweet and really concentrates the berry flavor.

Ingredients:
Crust
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled

Tart
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large egg plus 1 large white
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp grated lemon zest, plus 1 1/2 tsp juice
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp heavy cream
12 oz (or more) mix of blueberries and blackberries

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I was lucky enough to visit the stunning One&Only Palmilla for work a few weeks ago. It's such a beautiful spot, and the food is really incredible. We peeked into the kitchen at Market one afternoon and saw Sean, the pastry chef, create this beautiful dessert that consisted of mint ice cream, made that morning with mint picked in the herb garden, topped with dehydrated chocolate mousse, these pretty flowers, and some chocolate shavings. Basically, the fanciest mint chocolate chip ice cream around. It was amazing.

I've been dreaming about it. It inspired me to make my own fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream. I used this recipe from Isaac Mizrahi on Epicurious. Yum! It has a completely different flavor than store bought mint chocolate chip ice cream, more akin to a mojito. It's such a treat, and if you have an ice cream maker, I highly recommend it. Also, the chocolate chunks can be as big and as good a brand of chocolate as you want.

Ingredients:

6 lark egg yolks

3/4 cups sugar

2 cups whole milk

2 cups fresh mint leaves, loosely packed

1 cup heavy cream

4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Cote d'Or 86% - I looove Cote d'Or)

Berry Ice Cream Sauce

 

Jamie loves berries, so I made some berry syrup to go over vanilla ice cream. Wow! Huge success. This is simple and makes for an incredible dessert.

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1/2 bag of frozen berries
Sugar (about 1/4 cup, to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp butter
(vanilla ice cream)

Apple Sauce

Right before Sandy struck, I pulled out the trusty food mill and decided to make some apple sauce. It just seemed good for stormy weather. I went to Gristedes, which was hopping and didn't have any carts or baskets, and piled lots of apples in my arms hoping they wouldn't tumble before I could check out. The apple sauce was so tasty, and the food mill makes it velvety and smooth. It's also really simple. It took about half an hour and it was way better than store bought. I went off the Cook's Illustrated basic apple sauce recipe; fool proof, really. Leaving the skin on while you cook gives it a lot more flavor.

Maison du Macaron

I know everyone is into La Durée, but if you live downtown, there's an amazing macaron spot on 23rd - La Maison du Macaron. They have a great selection or colors and flavors and they look so beautiful. I got a box of the prettiest colors/tastiest-sounding flavors to bring to my sister-in-law's house last weekend, but we accidentally left them at home. Luckily for us, that meant we got to eat them. They're not that cheap ($20 for a box of 8) but they are rich and flavorful and decadent, and I think the perfect hostess present. (Anyone coming over to our apartment, I would be psyched to get a box of these : ) ) The salted caramel is amaaazing, and the port wine and pear (the pretty purple one with the gold leaf) was a close second. Yum!